Page 202 of The Pearl Sister
‘Wow, this is seriously the end of an era,’ I muttered as I paced the apartment, the silence reminding me of why I’d gone to Australia in the first place. Putting on my hoody, I braved the cold night air out on the terrace. I thought of Linda, and the life she’d never had; how she’d spent hers loving someone who would never love her. I felt a bit better then because, unlike her, I had a future to go to with people whodidlove me. What it might contain, I still wasn’t sure, but it was there for me to write it. Or, more accurately, paint it.
I looked up and found the tiny milky cluster and I thought how much brighter the Seven Sisters shone over the Alice.
My new home.
* * *
When the taxi arrived at five the next morning, the sky was still depressingly dark. In the end, I hadn’t bothered to go to bed, hoping it would help me sleep on the plane later. As we drove away from my apartment, a text pinged onto my phone.
CeCe, this is Linda Potter. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’ve decided to visit Anand. You were right, he needs my help and I will do what I can. God bless you, and safe journey to Australia.
Relief and pride rose up inside me, because I had changed Linda’s mind.Me,with my clumsy words . . . I’d actually managed to make a difference.
I checked in my three holdalls at Heathrow and walked to the security entrance, wondering if I’d remember this moment for the rest of my life, because it was so seminal. Then I thought how it was never the big moments I remembered; it was always the little things – picked out at random by some weird alchemy – that stuck in the photo album of my brain.
I dug in the front of my rucksack for my boarding pass, and my hand brushed against the sugary brown envelope which had once contained the clues to my past.
‘Christ,’ I breathed as I handed my boarding pass to the woman. I felt like it was almost a rerun of two months ago.
The woman nodded at me as she took it, looking half asleep, which was only fair because it wasn’t even seven o’clock in the morning yet. I was just about to walk through when I heard a voice behind me.
‘CeCe! Stop!’
I was so tired that I thought I was dreaming.
‘Celaeno D’Aplièse!Arrête!Stop!’
I turned round and there was Star.
‘Oh my God, Cee!’ Star panted as she arrived beside me. ‘I thought I’d missed you. Why on earth weren’t you answering your phone?’
‘I switched it off when I got out of the taxi,’ I said. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘We didn’t say goodbye properly last night. And I couldn’t let you leave without giving you a proper hug and telling you how much I’m going to miss you, and’ – Star wiped her nose on her sleeve – ‘saying thank you for everything you’ve done for me.’
She flung her arms around me and held me tighter than she ever had before, as if she couldn’t bear to let me go. We stood there for a while, then I pulled away, knowing if I didn’t, I’d stay forever.
‘I’d better go through,’ I mumbled, my voice croaky with emotion. ‘Thanks so much for coming.’
‘I’ll always be there for you, darling Cee.’
‘Me too. Bye, Sia.’
‘Bye. Keep in touch, won’t you? And promise you’ll come back to Atlantis for Pa’s first anniversary in June?’
‘Course I will.’
I blew a final kiss to Star, then I turned away and walked through security and into my future.
Tiggy
The Highlands, Scotland
January 2008
Aboriginal symbol for moon
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